Quiz: Can You Pass This Hard General Knowledge Quiz?: HowStuffWorks

Can You Pass This Hard General Knowledge Quiz?

EDUCATION

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By: Olivia Seitz

6 Min Quiz

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About This Quiz

Calling all trivia junkies! Let’s jump right in and see just how smart you are. Can you name which math symbol has no value? What about the U.S. state that’s home to Area 51? Do you know the name for a group of ravens? What’s the capital of Australia?

If you answered zero, Nevada, congress and Canberra, then you’re probably a trivia master!

You have a love of knowledge and, if you don’t have an answer, you have a burning desire to find one. You’ve always got your eyes and ears peeled for new information, soaking it up like a sponge. Books are your best friend; you read voraciously. You’re not afraid to explore new topics. You might be an expert in 80s movies and WWII planes, but you’re still willing to learn about world languages. You stay on top of current events and have plenty of sources for your news. You most likely killed it at Brain Quest as a kid.

Take pride in your general knowledge abilities!

Think you might know which creature can lift up to fifty times its body weight? What about where the Serengeti is located? Do you know which bug sometimes has six legs and sometimes eight?

If any of those questions ring a bell, don’t wait! See if you’re smart enough to ace this quiz!

Where is the Eiffel Tower located?

Madrid, Spain

New York, New York

Budapest, Hungary

Paris, France

La Tour Eiffel was constructed in 1889 for the World's Fair, and it has graced Paris' landscape ever since. At the time, it was the tallest structure in the world, standing over 1000 feet tall (1,063 feet tall, to be precise.)

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Every living thing is made up of:

Cartilage

Chitin

Muscle

Cells

Cell theory states that all living things are made of cells, so for something to be alive, it must consist of at least one cell. Bacteria are a great example of single-celled organisms considered to be alive. This is also part of the reason why viruses aren't alive; they aren't made of cells.

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Which ingredient helps baked goods rise?

Flour

Sugar

Eggs

Yeast

Yeast consumes some of the sugar used in baked goods, releasing carbon dioxide in the process. These bubbles try to rise to the surface, causing the food to rise with it. This process is called fermentation.

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Which one of these aquatic creatures needs to breath air?

Whale

Shark

Squid

Clownfish

Whales, which are marine mammals, need to surface regularly in order to breathe air; that's why you can see their spout above water. They clear out their lungs, creating a water spout, then they take in as much air as they can before submerging again.

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What color is traditionally believed to make bulls angry?

Yellow

Blue

Orange

Red

Spanish toreadors wave red capes to enrage bulls, but bulls are actually color blind to the color red. They're attracted to motion, not to color.

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Dorothy and her dog, Toto, are characters from which famous movie?

"Gone with the Wind"

"The Wizard of Oz"

"It's a Wonderful Life"

"Singin' in the Rain"

Dorothy and Toto are the stars of "The Wizard of Oz," which came out in 1939. As Dorothy and Toto follow the yellow brick road, they meet the Lion without courage, the Tin Man without a heart and the Scarecrow without a brain.

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Which vitamin or mineral is responsible for giving carrots their bright orange color?

Beta-carotene

Phylloquinone

Biotin

Potassium

Beta-carotene, a great source of Vitamin A, gives carrots their bright orange color. It's also the reason that beets are purple and apricots are orange.

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What vegetable is used to make bread and butter pickles?

Zucchini

Broccoli

Cucumber

Carrot

Cucumbers are submerged in brine (which usually includes vinegar, salt, sugar and spices) to create pickles. In other words, pickles are just pickled cucumbers! Of course, other veggies can be pickled, but they're never referred to as just "pickles."

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Which cartoon character encouraged children to eat their spinach?

Spider-Man

Popeye

Pink Panther

Donald Duck

Popeye the Sailor got his start in newspapers and was based on a real person, Frank "Rocky" Fiegel! He was (and still is) so popular, that a recent study showed that children who watched Popeye cartoons ate more vegetables after viewing them than prior to watching.

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Which famous singer was known for many hits, including "My Way" and "New York, New York?"

Frank Sinatra

Elvis

Nat King Cole

Leonard Bernstein

Frank Sinatra was a classic triple-threat, thrilling audiences with his singing, dancing and acting. An Oscar and Grammy winner, he created art that is still appreciated today. In the 1960s, he was a member of the Rat Pack, along with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr.

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Which creature can lift up to fifty times its body weight?

Tiger

Human

Chimpanzee

Ant

Ants can lift up to 50 times their body weight, but that's not even the most impressive weightlifting feat in the animal kingdom. Mites can lift up to 1,180 times their weight, an unimaginable accomplishment!

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Where is the Serengeti?

Europe

North America

Asia

Africa

Serengeti National Park, located in Tanzania, is home to wildlife such as zebras and wildebeests. The name loosely translates to "endless plains" in Maa, the language spoken by the Maasai people.

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Who co-founded the tech company, Apple?

Michael Dell

Mark Wahlberg

Mark Zuckerberg

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs was a co-founder of Apple, along with Steve Wozniak. Jobs, who lived from 1955 to 2011, created quite a few jobs with his company. An adopted child, he spent several years finding his direction before creating the company in 1976.

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Who was the second president of the United States of America?

George Washington

John Adams

Alexander Hamilton

Woodrow Wilson

After George Washington declined a third term as president, John Adams took his place in 1797. While in the White House, Adams famously wrote, "May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof."

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The sun rises in the east and sets where?

North

South

East

West

If you ever need to figure out which way is north, all you have to do is watch the sun. Its position actually comes from the Earth's rotation, not the sun's movement, but this memory device is still a great way to keep your cardinal directions straight.

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Milk was traditionally delivered in what type of container?

Glass

Metal

Plastic

Charcoal

Before glass bottles, if you wanted milk, you had to carry your pail to the farmer to get it! Once milk delivery became a common practice, you'd leave your empty glass bottles out to be recycled and refilled.

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What word do the British use instead of "cookie?"

Cake

Biscuit

Kolache

Pastry

The word "biscuit" refers to the equivalent of American crackers or cookies. In British territories, the word "cookie" specifically refers to chocolate chip cookies.

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Athens, Greece was named after which Greek god?

Zeus

Achilles

Athena

Hermes

Athena was said to have beaten Poseidon, the god of the sea, for patronage over the town by offering its residents an olive tree. As the goddess of wisdom, she saw the many benefits they would enjoy from olives: food, wood and oil.

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What is the main ingredient in ice cream?

Ice

Salt

Milk

Vanilla

You can't have ice cream without some type of milk. Traditionally, ice cream is made with cow's milk, but it can also be made with other types of milk, or milk alternatives like coconut milk or soy milk, for those who don't eat dairy.

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What is it called when a woman gives birth to four children at the same time?

Twins

Triplets

Quadruplets

Quintuplets

The record for the most births from a single human pregnancy is eight. In 2009, "Octomom" Nadya Suleman birthed octuplets, the result of IVF and medical malpractice.

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What is on the national emblem of the United States of America?

Tiger

Statue of Liberty

Bald eagle

Stars and stripes

A common myth exists that Benjamin Franklin desperately wanted a turkey to be on the emblem instead of a bald eagle. In reality, he commented in a letter to his daughter that the drawing of an eagle looked more like a turkey than an eagle.

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What substance is no longer used in thermometers due to safety concerns?

Water

Alcohol

Benzene

Mercury

Mercury thermometers provided a more accurate measurement of temperature than alcohol thermometers, but they posed a substantial health risk if they were to break. They were finally discontinued in the United States (even for industrial use) in 2011. Mercury is still used in fluorescent lamps.

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What is the shape of the Earth?

Turtle's back

Flat

Sphere

Elliptical plane

From the behavior of the stars to the pictures from NASA, we have all the evidence we need to know that the Earth is round. Fun fact: Earth is round because of the force of gravity.

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Which of the following is not a type of tooth?

Incisor

Enamel

Molar

Canine

Incisors, molars, premolars and canines are the different types of teeth you'll find in your mouth. Teeth are coated with enamel, which is primarily the mineral hydroxyapatite.

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What is the German word for "bless you?"

Danke

Bitte

Nacht

Gesundheit

"Danke" means "thank you," "bitte" means "please" or "you're welcome," and "nacht" means "night." Then there is "gesundheit," which actually means "health," but it's commonly used at moments when English-speakers say "bless you:" following a sneeze.

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The word "butt" can refer to:

The end of a cigarette

The shoulder stock of a rifle

An archery field

All of the above

Merriam-Webster lists several entries for the word "butt," including both nouns and verbs. It has a history of wide and varied use outside the colloquial American term, referring to one's backside.

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The "universal donor" blood type is:

AB+

B-

A+

O-

People with O- blood don't produce any surface proteins that would be recognized and attacked by the recipient's immune system. AB folks, on the other hand, can receive any type of blood transfusion because their bodies already produce any surface proteins that could be a problem.

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The common term for an extraterrestrial being is what?

Toaster

Bug

Alien

UFO

Aliens, or extraterrestrial life forms, have captured our imaginations for centuries, despite not having proof (yet) of their existence. In science fiction, they're often seen flying around in unidentified flying objects, aka UFOs.

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Which country's astronauts landed on the moon first?

Russia

Britain

China

USA

American astronauts set foot on the moon's soil before any other humans, but the Russians were the first to land an object, Luna 2, on the moon on September 13, 1959.

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Which of these dinosaurs had a really long neck?

Brachiosaurus

Iguanadon

Tyrannosaurus Rex

Stegosaurus

The brachiosaurus of North America was approximately 60-70 feet long and weighed almost 60 metric tons. It's a type of sauropod that lived during the Late Jurassic period. During that time, the world was made of two supercontinents: Laurasia and Gondwana.

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Which of the following is not a primary color in classic color theory?

Red

Green

Blue

Yellow

Red, blue and yellow can be mixed to make other colors, but you can't mix other colors to make red, blue or yellow in the RYB color model. They're called "primary" because you have to start with them to get everything else. For instance, yellow and blue make green, while red and blue make purple.

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What is the fourth planet from our sun?

Jupiter

Earth

Venus

Mars

The planets, from closest to furthest from the sun, are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Pluto was demoted from "planet" to "dwarf planet" and is no longer included in our solar system's planet count.

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Which war spurred the development of the internet?

WWI

Vietnam War

Cold War

Iraq war

Originally, the internet was used as an information "weapon" in the Cold War, as well as a way to ensure that information could be sent between government entities in the United States if the phone lines were destroyed.

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What term does Wall Street use to describe a downward-trending market?

Slug

Bear

Bunny

Bull

A "bear market" is one that is trending downward, in the same way that a bear would attack by swiping its paw down. A "bull market" is one trending upward, just like a bull would raise its horns high.

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Which of these bugs has both six and eight legs depending on its stage of development?

Caterpillar

Tick

Spider

Butterfly

Spiders crawl around on eight legs, while butterflies have six. Ticks have six legs in the larval stage, then later, as adults, they have eight.

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